Island Camp 2016 Instructors

|| HOSTS ||

KRISTIN ANDREASSEN & LAURA CORTESE - CO-DIRECTORS
DINTY CHILd - ISLAND MANAGER

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|| INSTRUCTORS ||

Robyn Hitchcock | Anna & Elizabeth | Zachariah Hickman | Kai WelcH | Moira Smiley | Emma Swift | Danny Knicely | Shane Leonard | Jesse Harper | Adam LarRabee | Val Thompson (Youth Program Coordinator)

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|| THIS YEAR's TRADITIONAL MUSIC FOCUS is ON  QUEBEC ||

DAVID BOULANGER & YANN FALQUET

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|| GUEST ARTISTS ||

THE STRAY BIRDS | JEFFERSON HAMER | LAUREN BALTHROP | CHRIS MILLER | ADAM MOSS | TAYLOR ASHTON | DIETRICH STRAUSE | RAY RIZZO | CHRIS WESTHOFF

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|| CAMP STAFF ||

All of our camp staff are crucial to creating the loving and supportive community that is Miles of Music. 

TIMOTHY TUCKER - CHEF | carrie Cahill mulligan - assistant chef | MATT SMITH - SOUND ENGINEER | SAM LEMONICK - WORK/TRADE CROO MANAGER | SHEENA OZAKI - ADMISSIONS DIRECTOR | LAUREN BALTHROP - MARKETING DIRECTOR | ELISE LEAVY - INSTRUCTOR LIAISON

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|| hosts ||

Kristin, Laura & Dinty teach at all Miles of Music Island events.

Kristin Andreassen is a singer, a songwriter and a percussive dancer who combines those skills in musical performances that are both “inventive” (The New Yorker) and “haunting” (NPR’s Folk Alley). Before releasing her 2015 album Gondolier, she toured as a member of some the most respected acoustic groups of the 2000s: the stringband Uncle Earl, the "folk noir” singing trio Sometymes Why, and the Appalachian clogging troupe Footworks. Kristin's songs range from the playfulness of her #1 children’s hit "Crayola Doesn't Make a Color for Your Eyes” to emotive soundscapes as heard on Showtime’s The Affair and in this shadow art video collaboration with 2016 Miles of Music instructor Anna Roberts-Gevalt. An experienced teacher and square dance caller, Kristin is a true believer in the transformative power of music camps for all ages. She’s been on staff at a dozen such camps including Ashokan Fiddle & Dance, the Augusta Heritage Center, Voiceworks, Southern Girls’ Rock Camp in Memphis, Rockygrass Academy and the inaugural Wheatland Music Camp. Kristin studied creative writing, history and community development at Montreal’s McGill University, and she is nearly as surprised as her parents that she seems to have found a career where she employs all three of those skills in balance. www.kristinandreassen.com

Laura Cortese grew up in San Francisco and moved to Boston to study violin at Berklee College of Music. She has since immersed herself in the city's vibrant indie music scene and enjoyed a busy sideman career, which has included appearances with Band of Horses at Carnegie Hall, Pete Seeger at Newport Folk Festival, and Patterson Hood and Michael Franti for Seeger's ninetieth birthday celebration at Madison Square Garden. She performs frequently with Jocie Adams formerly of The Low Anthem and can be heard with Adams's new band, Arc Iris. Cortese also performs frequently with Rose Cousins, and played on her 2012 release "We Have Made a Spark". In 2010, Laura released three EPs: Two Amps, One Microphone, a duet with guitarist and singer Jefferson Hamer; Simple Heart, a collaboration with five other female vocalists; and Acoustic Project, which provided the seed for the fiddle-based arrangements of her current band, Laura Cortese & the Dance Cards. Laura's group was selected from a pool of 400 bands to tour with the US State Department's American Music Abroad program. In 2014, the band toured India, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Bangladesh to perform and teach as artist ambassadors. Now the band is eagerly awaiting their next international assignment for Spring 2016. www.thisislauracortese.com

Besides being the off-season manager of Three Mile Island, Dinty Child is a longtime member of the Boston roots/folk scene. A fearless multi-instrumentalist he can most often be seen with the band Session Americana, as well as the Chandler Travis Philharmonic, the unapologetically loud and grimy Catbirds, as sensitive side man to any number of singer/songwriters, including Rose Cousins and Kris Delmhorst, and even fronting the 15 piece party band, the Funky White Honkies. www.sessionamericana.com/

|| instructors ||

Instructors teach about three classes/day.

Robyn Hitchcock is one of England's most enduring contemporary singer/songwriters and live performers. A surrealist poet, talented guitarist, cult artist and musician's musician, Hitchcock is among alternative rock's father figures and is the closest thing the genre has to a Bob Dylan (not coincidentally his biggest musical inspiration). Since founding the art-rock band The Soft Boys in 1976, Robyn has recorded more than 20 albums as well as starred in ‘Storefront Hitchcock’, an in concert film recorded in New York and directed by Jonathan Demme. http://www.robynhitchcock.com 

Anna & Elizabeth met in 2011, and their work has brought them to stages across the world, including the Atlanta Museum of Modern Art; folk festivals in Brooklyn, the Yukon, Chicago, Maine, and Uzbekistan; residencies at universities; summer traditional music schools; and small theaters and folk clubs across the U.S. and U.K. They have produced two albums - their second featuring Grammy nominee and legendary folk singer Alice Gerrard, was released in March 2015 on Free Dirt Records. This winter, Anna & Elizabeth are beginning a new cycle of work, inspired by ballad singers of the 1930s and 1940s in Vermont and Virginia—the states where they grew up. Spending time in archives, with the families of these singers, and with a director, Anna & Elizabeth will explore connections between place and tradition to develop a new show, a new set of crankies, and a new album inspired by these ballads. www.annaandelizabeth.com

Zachariah Hickman is a double bassist, multi-instrumentalist and producer based out of Boston, MA. Originally from Lynchburg, VA, he received his formal training in jazz performance and composition from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music. For most of his adult life he has toured with singer-songwriter Josh Ritter, traveling all over the world and recording 7 full-length albums. Currently, he is performing as bassist and musical director for Ray Lamontagne. He has performed at many notable venues and festivals, including Carnegie Hall, Radio City Music Hall, Red Rocks, Bonaroo, Dublin Castle, The Fillmore, and the Royal Albert Hall. With Josh Ritter, he has also performed with the Boston Pops in Symphony Hall, the New York Pops in Central Park, and many other orchestras in Europe and the United States. Television appearances include five David Letterman appearances, Conan O’brien, Ellen Degeneres, and Late Night with Jools Holland for the BBC. As a producer, Zachariah as made records with a number of talented singers, including Rose Cousins (for which he won a Canadian JUNO award), Mark Erelli, Laura Cortese, Miss Tess, and his own bluegrass band Barnstar! He has also produced and ringmastered his own circus, released his own brand of mustache wax, and runs a vaudeville style variety show, Zack Hickman’s House of Ill Repute.

Conceived in a tipi in Oregon and raised by parents he describes as “semi-nomadic, back to the land hippy homesteaders,” Kai Welch is a Nashville-based songwriter and musician best known for his work with Abigail Washburn, Bobby Bare, Jr., and on the Grammy-nominated Greencards album Sweetheart of the Sun. Setting out on his own, Kai has released the ‘Perpetually Out Of Fashion’ EP, which he wrote, recorded and arranged himself, just last year. EP stand-outs like the haunting and slow burning title track “Sweet Abandon” has no doubt reinforced friend and collaborator Bela Fleck’s assertion that Kai is “a powerful musical force.” His love for music and nature also led him to start Music for Wild Places, a non-profit concert series that takes participants on multi-day, musical adventures through some of America’s most beautiful scenery. http://kaiwelch.com/

Moira Smiley is a Singer / Composer who creates and performs new work for voices. A musical polyglot, and vocal shape-shifter, her voice – and composing – are heard on feature films, BBC & PBS television programs, NPR, and on more than 60 albums. When she’s not leading her own group, moira smiley & VOCO, Moira tours with Indie artist tUnE-yArDs, Irish music powerhouse, Solas, The Lomax Project and Billy Child’s “Laura Nyro Re-Imagined”. Recent solo performances include TED, Stravinsky’s ‘Les Noces’, the London Proms Festival, features on BBC3’s The Choir, and ABC Australia’s Books & Arts programs. Moira’s recordings feature spare, vocally driven collections of warped traditional songs, original polyphony and body percussion. In addition to her performing work, she is in high demand as a choral clinician, composer and arranger. www.moirasmiley.com

Emma Swift is a wandering songbird who splits her time between Sydney, Australia and Nashville, Tennessee. A fan of minor chords, heartworn highways, scuffed-up boots, gin and endless pedal steel, she likes to play vulnerable music. Her heroes, in no particular order are: Emmylou Harris, Gram Parsons, Bill Callahan, Anais Nin, Lucinda Williams and whoever invented dry shampoo.  www.emmaswift.com

Danny Knicely has roots deep within the old-time and bluegrass traditions. He comes originally from a family steeped in mountain music for generations, beginning his musical journey learning from his grandfather, A.O. Knicely, who has been playing dances and social events in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia since the 1930's. Danny has used his deep roots as a means to explore many types of music from places within the U.S. and all around the world. He has shared his music and collaborated with musicians in over a dozen countries, including tours in Tunisia and Morocco. As a multi-instrumentalist, Danny has won many awards for his mandolin, guitar, and fiddle -playing, as well as flatfooting, including first place in the mandolin contest at the Telluride Bluegrass Festival. www.dannyknicely.com

Shane Leonard is a multi-instrumentalist, composer, producer, and sound engineer living in Eau Claire, WI. He's toured the UK supporting Jeff Tweedy, worked with Field Report, Larry Campbell (Bob Dylan, Paul Simon), Sara and Sean Watkins (Nickel Creek), Todd Sickafoose (Ani DiFranco, Andrew Bird), Ben Sollee, Evan Ziporyn (Steve Reich, Bang On A Can), Robbie Lackritz (Feist), MIT's Balinese Gamelan, Berklee College Of Music's Ensemble Robot, and taught music through the Exploration School at Yale University, Augusta Heritage Center, and other programs throughout the US. Somewhere amidst all that he managed a steady output of solo work, releasing two EPs and a full-length under the moniker Kalispell. The debut album made many Best Of The Year lists, was profiled by NPR, and featured twice as No Depression's favorite new music. Kalispell's new album, Printer's Son, will be released in Spring 2016 via Cartouche Records. www.kalispellband.com

Jesse Harper,  former lead vocalist and guitarist for acoustic super-group Old School Freight Train, has toured and shared the stage with many of his musical heroes, including David Grisman,  Madeleine Peyroux, Josh Ritter, Ricky Skaggs and Jason Mraz with appearances on Watkins Family Hour and bluegrass radio. Also an active songwriter, Jesse splits his time between performing solo material and rocking out 80s hits with Love Canon. www.lovecanon80s.com

After getting his undergraduate degree in Jazz Guitar at Oberlin Conservatory and a Masters degree in Composition at Virginia Commonwealth University, Adam Larrabee moved to Boston and taught at The New England Conservatory for 9 years. Eventually he came to his senses, learned how to play the banjo and moved to Virginia. He was the original banjo player in the neo-bluegrass pop band “Joy Kills Sorrow” and has recorded with many artists; including, Bruce Hornsby and rising jazz saxophone prodigy Grace Kelly, in a number of different styles. Aside from playing in Love Canon, Adam plays with a number of local jazz legends and teaches at UVA, VCU and JMU. His goal in life is to seek out and quickly drink the most delicious pint of beer ever created. www.lovecanon80s.com

Valerie Thompson is a native of Kansas City, MO. She began classical cello studies at the age of ten, and is a graduate of Berklee College of Music with a B.M. in music performance. She has performed in the Czech Republic as a participant of the Ameropa Chamber Music Festival, at the Banff International Youth Symphony Festival in Alberta, and the Cathedral of St. John the Divine with the Berklee String Orchestra. When not freelancing or teaching cello, Valerie can be heard in any of her fine musical projects FLUTTR EFFECT, the Yurodivy Quintet, and the Ephemeral Duet. http://www.valeriethompson.com/bio.htm

|| TRADITIONAL music focus - quebec ||

Each year, we feature one regional traditional music style. In 2016, we’re bringing two stellar players from Montreal to teach Quebecois fiddle tunes, songs and guitar backing.

David Boulanger is an exceptional Quebecois player as well as a respected jazz violin player, singer, foot-tapper, composer, and arranger in Montreal. A man of great talent, enthusiasm and humour, he has gained widespread acclaim for his joyful and superb fiddling. He received several awards from the Canadian Folk Music awards. In 2007 his band “La Part du Quêteux” was nominated for “album of the year”. In 2010 David was also nominated with his “Duo Duval Boulanger” for “instrumental group of the year” for the album “Pièces sur Pièces”. July 2011, he composed and arranged music for the circus, “Cirque Alfonse” for their show “Timber” which has toured around the world since. However, he is best known for his performance with La Bottine Souriante –Québec’s epic grand trad band, presenting music from Québec with a brass section, which has included releasing the much praised album, “Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée”. This album was nominated in the category “group of the year” in the Canadian Folk Music Awards 2012.

Yann Falquet is a very active and creative acoustic guitar player on the Québécois music scene. He has explored many styles of music and completed a Bachelors degree in Jazz. Since then, he has developed a personal guitar style for Québec folk music, inspired by the playing of the accompanists of different cultures (including Brittany, Scandinavia, Ireland, and North America). His involvement in the province's traditional music scene has brought Yann to perform on numerous recordings, and to tour regularly throughout Canada, the U.S., Europe and Australia with his main project Genticorum. He also toured for three years with the award winning Celtic and world group The McDades. Yann has taught his guitar style at the Irish World Academy of Music and Dance in Limerick and the Goderich Celtic College, as well as for Alasdair Fraser's Fiddle Train and Sierra Fiddle Camp. http://www.genticorum.com/ 

|| Guest artists ||

Guest Artists teach about one class/day.

The Stray Birds have been flying high since the 2012 release of their critically acclaimed self-titled album. Two years, hundreds of gigs, and thousands of highway miles later, the genre-melding acoustic trio made its Yep Roc Records debut. Known for their songwriting, instrumental virtuosity and gorgeous three-part harmony singing, their most cohesive and ambitious album to date, Best Medicine, was released on October 21. The Band – multi-instrumentalists and vocalists Maya de Vitry, Oliver Craven, and Charlie Muench – hails from Lancaster, Pennsylvania. All three are classically-trained musicians who’ve been making music of all kinds since childhood (before they reconnected through the local music scene, de Vitry and Muench first met in middle school orchestra); however, they were also all raised with a steady diet of music ranging from pioneers like The Carter Family and Bill Monroe & His Blue Grass Boys to the joyous invention of The Beatles and The Band, to the groundbreaking artistry of Jimi Hendrix. www.thestraybirds.com 

Based in Brooklyn, NY, Jefferson Hamer has been living and breathing acoustic folk and electric roots music for over 20 years. He performs original and traditional songs, produces records, teaches, and tours across the USA and Europe with friends and collaborators from both sides of the Atlantic. His Child Ballads album with Anais Mitchell earned a BBC2 Folk Award in the Best Traditional Track category, and was named one of NPR’s top-ten Folk and Americana releases of 2013. His acoustic collaboration with Dublin-born Eamon O’Leary, The Murphy Beds, features ten folk songs sung in harmony duets, decorated with intricate guitar and bouzouki accompaniment. The Huffington Post said it succinctly: “The resulting album bears repeated listening from start to finish, with ten beautiful, crystalline songs.”

Lauren Balthrop is a multi-instrumentalist and singer-songwriter born and raised in Alabama where her family gatherings always included sing-alongs of the Everly Brothers, the Andrew Sisters, the Louvin Brothers, and the Beatles. She formed a big folk-rock band and "small town" with her brother called Balthrop, Alabama and they've toured all across the states. They have plans to write an "Our Town" inspired musical. Her 60's inspired girl group, The Bandana Splits, has released two records with songs landing on shows such as HBO's 'Bored to Death'. Lauren has one solo album with another one on the way under the name Dear Georgiana. She's also toured extensively as a multi-instrumentalist for Elizabeth & the Catapult and Ximena Sariñana. Lauren is a knitter and tap dancer too! www.deargeorgiana.com

“The Chris Miller” - as he is affectionately referred to - could not imagine his life without Miles of Music Camp. Chris plays a variety of instruments (banjo, clarinet, dobro, flute, t’fer), but it’s his captivating saxophone style that has brought him around the world and recently earned him a GRAMMY nomination with his band The Revelers (2016 Best Regional Roots Music). His versatility and sunny disposition have also earned him gigs with A.C Newman, Doug Wamble, The Mike & Ruthy Band, and as a mainstay addition to the Great Bear Trio. He splits his time between Brooklyn, NY, Lafayette, LA and The Road. www.chrismillersax.com

Brooklyn based fiddler and songster Adam Moss’s musical career can most easily be characterized by the variance of his influence. Adam loves playing in the Klezmer, Bluegrass, Old-time and Swing traditions, creating a very unique and innovative style in a performance setting. He is actively touring with Boston’s Session Americana, Brooklyn's The Defibulators, Ana Egge, and has formerly toured on Anais Mitchell’s “Hadestown,” tour, and with Texas’s 3 Redneck Tenors. In addition, Adam is currently working on multiple projects, including his original solo project, and his family band “Moishe Circus," and is often found accompanying his twin brother David Moss on his solo project. www.adammossfiddle.com

Dietrich Strause is a songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and touring performer from Lancaster, Pennsylvania, currently living in Boston, Massachusetts. He began performing at the age of 15 as a trumpet player in an R&B band in biker bars throughout central Pennsylvania. While pursuing a BA in Politics at Oberlin College in Ohio, Dietrich started writing songs of his own and fell in love with the craft. Dietrich moved to Boston and found a home in the vibrant roots and folk scenes. He is currently working on his third full length album with his live band and frequent collaborators, including producer and guitarist Austin Nevins and multi-instrumentalist Zachariah Hickman. When not on the road, Dietrich teaches guitar, trumpet, and piano in the Boston area. www.dietrichstrause.com

Chris Westhoff is a musician, actor, and educator, now living in rural Ohio where he works as the Managing Director for three small arts organizations, Mad River Theater Works, The Historic Holland Theatre and LoCoArt.  Originally from the Nutmeg State (Connecticut), he attended Hampshire College, in Amherst, MA, where he received a B.A. in documentary studies.  There he met his wife-to-be, Chloe Manor, and began to merge his wandering and often ambient musical interests with old-time song and dance.  Chris enjoys the quiet life the country has to offer and keeps busy with farm chores, cycling and ice hockey.  Now as a new father he's in over his head in more ways than one but loving the ride.  http://www.madrivertheater.org/

||CAMP STAFF||

Chef Timothy Tucker was born in Springfield, IL, and graduated from Sullivan University in Louisville, KY with a degree in Culinary Arts.  He began his career working at restaurants such as The Mansion on Turtle Creek in Dallas and The Painted Table in Seattle. Since then he has established three culinary training programs for low-income populations in Louisville, Miami, FL,and in Boston, MA, where he resides now. Timothy has also been the chef for Three Mile Island (summer) and Miles of Music since 2011. The author of Food to Make Music To, a collection of recipes from Three Mile Island, was inspired by his time working with Miles of Music.  He also has a a food radio blog WGGF radio (World Gathering Good Food). www.cheftimothytucker.com

Carrie Cahill Mulligan is a park ranger turned fiber artist who plays a little banjo when she's not playing ice hockey. Happy to be here in the camp kitchen to serve you! https://ccmhats.com/

Since beginning his career in the music world, Matt Smith has been on panels and advisory committees at the Falcon Ridge Folk Festival, the International Folk Alliance, and the Northeast Regional Folk Alliance. He has worked as a tour manager and sound engineer for the singer-songwriter collaborative, Live From New York (Edie Carey, Teddy Goldstein, Anne Heaton, and Andrew Kerr) and the Celtic band Halali (Hanneke Cassel, Laura Cortese, Lissa Schneckenburger, and Flynn Cohen). Matt has also been a stage emcee at the Falcon Ridge and the Newport Folk Festivals, and he is the managing director of Club Passim and founder of Club Passim's Campfire Festival.